Premonitions
by Dreadful Sorry
Summary: When the door to the Pulse Vestige opened, two scientists risked everything to keep it a secret, and to keep hundreds of innocent people safe. Rated T for my characters' filthy mouths :D


**Prologue: Day 1 - Awakening**

The control room hummed peacefully, while Dr. Naomi Cross slept soundly on her desk. Her faint snores could just be heard over the whir of computers, monitors, and other mechanical equipment. The diffuse green light of the room did nothing to disturb Naomi's sleep, and she drooled slightly over the open book which had become her pillow. Everything was as it had always been; that is, until the monitor in the corner began to beep.

It was a regular, high-pitched chirp, and it sounded its alarm exactly thirteen times before Naomi began to stir. She groaned and knocked her empty teacup over as she moved to lift her head from her desk. Groggily, she looked about her, trying to gather her bearings. When she finally found the source of the disturbance, her mind snapped instantly awake.

"John!" she yelled. She fumbled over her desk for the intercom and pressed its white button. "John!" she said again. "Get in here, now."

There was a short silence, then a tinny voice answered: "Naomi, is that you? You know it's three A.M. right?"

"Of course I know, dammit. Get your lazy ass to the control room!"

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Just get over here." She cut off the intercom and rolled her chair over to the chirping monitor. She typed in a few commands, and the screen stopped flashing its warning message. In its place, the monitor displayed a live video feed of an elaborate doorway which, when Naomi had fallen asleep just a few hours earlier, had been firmly shut.

"Shit," she muttered to herself. She began typing furiously, her long white fingers frantic, her violet eyes flitting constantly from screen to keys. John burst into the room within three minutes of her call. He hadn't even pulled a pair of pants over his boxer shorts; Naomi was only momentarily distracted by this.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"The door's open."

He stood dumbstruck for several seconds. "What?"

"I said, the door's open," she said, calling up the video once again. "Look."

John swore too. "What the hell happened?!"

"I don't know," Naomi answered, as she moved to another monitor and began scrolling through what looked like readouts from a Richter scale.

"There has to be something! That thing's been dormant for 500 years; something's changed." He walked over to the video terminal and began rewinding the feed.

"Go back to 02:54:00. The vibration monitor picked up some movement around then."

Sure enough, when John played back the feed, the door to the Pulse Vestige slid open at exactly 02:55. The two scientists watched the video in mute horror, the green glow of the various instruments tinting their pale faces. Suddenly, Naomi gasped. "Stop the feed!"

Immediately John paused, just in time to freeze the frame as two dark figures exited the doorway. "Who the hell is that?" he asked no one in particular, squinting at the monitor. He pressed play again to watch the figures stand in the doorway for a few moments, and then jump down to the sea below.

"The picture's too dark," Naomi muttered, "can't see who, or _what_, that was…"

John stood up quickly. "I'm calling the Sanctum."

"NO!" Naomi cried as panic surged through her body.

"What do you mean, 'no'?! Naomi, we can't just keep this a secret. Who knows what just came out of there; people could be in danger!"

"If you bring Sanctum here, people _will_ be in danger!" She grabbed his arm. "Listen to me! How do you think they'll react once we tell them there could be l'Cie wandering around Bodhum? Once news of this gets out, do you have any idea what kind of panic there'll be?! The Sanctum would have no choice but to come here and take care of the problem, and you know damn well how they take care of their problems."

"We still have a duty to tell the Sanctum about this; it's what we were put here to do. They'll find out sooner or later."

Naomi let go of his arm. "What are you doing?" John asked as she began typing once more.

"Erasing the feed where those figures came out. I'll just loop the image of the open door to cover it up –"

"Are you crazy?! We can't cover that up; they really could be Pulse l'Cie, you know!"

"If we tell the Sanctum that, there'll be complete panic, and all the innocent people in Bodhum won't stand a chance." She looked up at John, staring right into his eyes. "Trust me, John, it's better if they don't know anything about this."

She could see him hesitating for a moment, but he knew she was right. Finally he sighed and said, "Alright. But we still have to tell them that the Vestige isn't dormant anymore."

Naomi nodded. "Not yet, though. Let's keep an eye on things for the next few days; if there's any sign of danger, we'll contact Sanctum." When John didn't offer up an objection, she continued altering the video feed, all the while trying to ignore the coldness that was creeping through her every vein.


End file.
